Trait-based approaches to restoration ecology: Synthesizing insights from diverse systems

Under accelerating global change, trait-based approaches are emerging as essential tools in the ecological restoration toolbox. Where restoration has traditionally focused on the recovery of focal species in isolated systems, trait-based methods can provide a common language that extends beyond species- or system-specific contexts, allowing scientists and practitioners to translate insights across organisms and ecosystems and predict functional variation critical to resilience in the face of rapidly changing environmental conditions. Trait-based insights can thus help achieve restoration that is both adaptable and scalable as future climate scenarios unfold. To date, trait-based approaches to restoration have developed and proceeded independently across habitats and ecosystems, limiting information sharing and innovation. Here, we synthesize diverse perspectives and research on trait-informed restoration across ecosystems, distilling our findings into three key insights. First, variable contexts and trade-offs in trait-function linkages shape restoration outcomes at distinct ecological scales and project stages. For example, individual-level traits that underpin stress tolerance may play a critical role in initial survival and establishment during early project stages, while traits that influence species interactions and modify energy transformation may play a larger role as communities reassemble and ecosystem function becomes a priority at later stages. Second, coordinating trait-informed restoration across ecosystems can advance multi-trophic and multi-system restoration by closing the divide between "top down" approaches that target individual organisms or populations typically in large, mobile animal reintroductions and "bottom-up" approaches that target community-level organization in the restoration of foundation species. Finally, enhanced interdisciplinary communication and knowledge-sharing can help develop solutions to major challenges hindering the progress of trait-informed restoration (e.g., accounting for intraspecific variation). As novel environmental conditions continue to arise, an integrative approach to trait-informed restoration that spans ecological scales, promotes knowledge-sharing across diverse ecosystems, and fosters management-science collaboration can help unify and advance restoration efforts under current and future disturbance scenarios.